Strengthening the U.S.-India Nuclear Security Relationship

Nearly a decade since the United States and India broke ground on bilateral nuclear cooperation, there exists broad, unrealized potential for expanding nuclear security cooperation between Washington and New Delhi. Building on India’s positive contributions to the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, the United States and India should seek a new program of cooperation, across policy, technical, and intelligence domains, to protect their citizens from the threat of nuclear terrorism. Importantly, such cooperation should be implemented with care for national interests (nuclear security is understandably a sensitive topic) and guided by the principles of mutual benefit, equality, and continuous improvement. This paper will outline the security challenges shared by India and the United States, elaborate further on guiding principles for prospective cooperation, and present a menu of potential projects which could be implemented as appropriate between key stakeholders in India and the United States.